Chapter 3
The moment Miriam closed the door to the South Wing she raced across hallways and pounded down two sets of stairs toward her grandmother's room.
"Grandmum! Grandmum!" She burst through the door and almost toppled over a nurse who was about to walk out. The nurse looked thoroughly startled to see the girl in the room, but Miriam raced straight for her grandmother's bed. "What does all of that writing on the door mean?"
Lydia was really very ill. The doctors didn't give her much of a chance, but of course it did not do for one to tell a child that, especially a child who had lost her parents only a few years earlier. She struggled to sit up in her bed. "Child, you shouldn't be in here."
"I know you told me that, Grandmum, but I saw the door and I just couldn't wait to ask you about it. It had lots of drawings and a poem and …"
Lydia closed her eyes for a moment and tried to understand everything her granddaughter was telling her. The only real fact that seemed to penetrate was that she was dying. So she asked the only thing that she could think of. "Is it storming?"
"Yes it is and the lightening lit up the room and …"
"Child, I don't know of any door with writing on it. You must be talking about your grandfather's door. I had it made when he was died and all sorts of strange things carved into it. But I know there was no writing on it."
"Oh but there was, Grandmum." She said softly, but it had dawned upon her that her grandmother was very very sick.
Lydia smiled softly. The little girl had been such a joy to her. She had such an imagination. "Miriam…" but she was too tired to go on. The nurse had come back and saw how tired her patient was. She gently escorted Miriam to the door. As they stepped into the corridor, a soft voice floated out to them. "I love you."
Miriam would have like to explore the door again and find out if she was right about words, but many things were happening in the large house. Doctors were always rushing in and out. A great many people came to see her grandmother. Miriam wished they would all go away. There came a day when the house was nearly empty. Only Miriam, her grandmother, and the ever-present nurse were there. Miriam was in the library, reading a book when the nurse walked in and knelt in front of the chair in which Miriam was lounging.
"Dearie, I'm afraid I have somethin to tell ya." Nurse O'Kelly said. "It would seem that your grandmother has left us, girlie."
Miriam said not a word, but her book had dropped to the floor and she was staring vacantly at the window hangings.
"D'ya know what that means?" The nurse wasn't quite sure what to think of the quiet girl. She had expected to deal with screaming and crying, not silence. Perhaps the girl didn't understand?
"It means that my grandmother has died and left me alone." The girl's voice was emotionless, as if she was reciting facts that she had learned in school.
"Well, not alone, love. Your relatives should be here soon, and she's left you this house and lots of money." When Miriam didn't look away from the window and still said nothing, the nurse left the room without a sound. "She'll be needin a little more time to adjust I suppose. But she'll come around."
That is a fact that could have been debated, but one thing was for sure, someone came around. The house was soon full of relatives and people who claimed to be relatives. They wanted to hug and kiss Miriam. They wanted to tell her how sorry they were that she had lost her grandmother. But most of all, it seemed, they wanted to tell her that she should let them take care of the house and money. They swarmed around the place until Miriam felt she couldn't take a proper breath. It may be noted that she had not once shed a tear for her grandmother, and the relations commented among themselves that she was as hard as steel and must be more like her grandfather's unknown side of the family because she certainly didn't resemble any of themselves.
Miriam never did seem to be able to have a private moment, but, at last, she thought of the South Wing. Surely no one would follow her there. She waited until lunchtime, then slipped quietly up the two sets of stairs and the various hallways until she had found the door for the South Wing. She slipped into its quiet hallway and took a deep breath. She was finally alone!
It is interesting that we never seem to find adventure, it always finds us. Miriam had not gone into the South Wing with the intention of looking at the mysterious door, but once she stepped into the wing, she was drawn to it as inevitably as an iron pin is drawn to a magnet. She found herself once more standing before the double doors. In daylight the doors seemed even larger than they had on that stormy afternoon, but they were much less imposing and much more beckoning. She glanced at the inscription. It was still there. All that business about pure hearts and keys, what did it mean?
Miriam decided not to puzzle over it and instead looked at the pictures carved into the door. At first they were all jumbled together, but as she looked at them, they seemed to focus until she could see that they told a story. She saw a king, wise and noble, presiding over his court. She saw an advisor betray the king, she saw an evil-looking army marching on the palace. As she looked at the pictures, she saw that a great war was waged on the palace-grounds, and she saw that the good king had lost. The next picture was of the king standing next to a tree. He seemed to be talking to it, then he took a seed from it. Then the king was gone, and the evil army placed their own king on the throne. When he took power all of the good people in the kingdom were persecuted and driven back, and the good places lay in ruin. As she looked at these things, Miriam began to cry. She cried for her grandmother and for the dear, noble, lost king, but mostly she cried for the people of that unknown country. As the tears dripped from her eyes, two fell on the door handles, and as they did the door made a soft clicking sound, and opened a fraction of an inch. Miriam gasped. The door was opened! Was that what the poem meant about keys? She glanced around cautiously, then put her hand on the knobs, pushed the door open, and stepped through.
